A new rail link to improve access to Newcastle Airport is being considered, the Chronicle can reveal.

Consultants have drawn up draft plans for a new track from the East Coast main line, which runs between London and Scotland through Newcastle, to the airport.

Trains would leave the East Coast line north of Newcastle near Burradon and would travel west, passing south of Wideopen and Hazlerigg and north of the new Newcastle Great Park housing and business complex to a new station at the airport.

The aim is to provide a faster and more convenient rail link for passengers from the airport's wider catchment area, particularly County Durham and Teesside, but also Northumberland, Scotland, Cumbria and North Yorkshire.

Low-cost flights are now attracting more passengers willing to travel a greater distance to take advantage of cheaper fares.

Airport bosses reckon the service could be commercially viable by 2008, though it is unlikely to be built before the end of the master plan period, which goes up to 2016.

Plans for the heavy rail route, drawn up by Newcastle-based engineering consultants Arup for the regional development agency One NorthEast, are still under wraps, but the Chronicle has seen details.

Trains would follow the route of the East Coast main line from Newcastle to the former junction of the Seaton Burn Waggonway. New track may be needed alongside the existing line north of Heaton.

Heading west, the route would follow an old colliery railway line and cross Great Lime Road via a level crossing.

The line would pass south of houses at Wideopen then under the A1 through a tunnel, with a new Great Park station proposed south of Hazlerigg.

The route would head along the northern boundary of the Great Park into a new station south of the airport terminal next to the existing Metro station.

The journey from Newcastle Central would be about 20 minutes as opposed to 23 minutes on the Metro.

Airport managers refused to comment, but the master plan says the long-term aim is to give more passengers a direct link from their local station to the terminal building.

"This is becoming increasingly important as direct rail provision is being progressed at several competitor airports, including those in Scotland and Yorkshire," says the plan.

Officials at the Department for Transport have examined the technical and operational feasibility and One NorthEast is now looking into the business case.

Bosses at Nexus say the Metro provides a good service to the airport but if there is a demand they may look at new ideas including 24-hour running or non-stop trains in the long term.